Hello, Wayfarers!
What obstacles are you facing in your path?
sacred robin drops worm
mid-flight into pond below
do not feed the ducks
The Early Bird Drops the Worm
One of the most frustrating things in life is when you do all the “right” things and disaster still strikes.
At the pond behind the library one morning, a lone robin had worked a worm free from the grass. The early bird had caught the worm right before my eyes. Then a car backfired, scaring the robin into flight. As it reached the middle of the pond below, the worm worked its way free and fell into the pond, and the ducks dove in after it.
Told from a different perspective, the story is even worse. A worm was busy doing what worms do underground—making the soil healthy—and living its best worm life when it was abruptly plucked from its home by the robin. The worm refused to give up. It fought and fought until it broke free of the predator’s beak. Unfortunately, it was no longer a few inches above its home, but many feet above the water, where it fell and was eaten by hungry ducks.
There is a way to see this as a happy tale. Consider the ducks’ perspective. They are swimming around when an exotic meal falls from the sky, and with very little effort, they find a delicious meal, providing them with the precious calories they need to survive.
Many times in life, I have been the robin or the worm. Forces beyond my control conspired to derail me from my plans. However, if I’m honest, many times, I’ve also been the duck receiving a free meal from the sky.
One of the things I’m working on in my spiritual practice is seeing events as occurrences, stripped of their subjective goodness or badness. In the parlance of Buddhism, I’m allowing things to just be. I am often my own roadblock because I am too fixated on my narrow perspective of events, I fall in love with my narration.
Maybe sometimes you have this experience too.
I’ve found that sitting at the pond at the library, quietly noticing the petty dramas of nature, and writing haiku about them have a way of enlarging my spirit and shrinking my ego.
Maybe that would work for you too.
Today’s story reminded me of another haiku comic I wrote about things going differently than expected:
life without detours
only means living someone
else’s plan for you
I published this a few weeks ago as part of my very long post, A Totally Inadequate Guide to Adulting.
Be the weird you want to see in the world!
Cheers,
Jason
Love this Jason! Thank you for sharing... all the possibilities.
You, sir, have just enlarged my life. Thank you!